This French Toast with Rhubarb and Custard recipe is a way to remember my childhood, the early 90s in their prime! We lived in a small beach village that had more sand than dirt so one of the few things we grew in our garden was rhubarb, likely because it's hardy to grow in terrain like that.
My dad would always utter “rhubarb rhubarb rhubarb” so swiftly that the only way we could react was to laugh with how silly it sounded. It was a game he played, he said it that way to make us laugh and the only way we would ever eat it was stewed either on top of yogurt or granola.
With each new rhubarb season, I think of my father and those days that get ever further away with each passing day and this year needs more rhubarb recipes so this year will see a few, including this one.
How to prepare French Toast with Rhubarb and Custard
- Slice your brioche or challah bread thickly: We want it to dry out a little
- Stew your rhubarb: Cook until the rhubarb is just breaking up and the water in the saucepan is a syrup.
- Prepare the custard milk for your french toast: Mix all french toast ingredients, you want it to be a milky mixture so the bread will soak it up.
- Heat up the fry pan with a little butter: We want that butter hot and bubbly.
- Soak the bread: Allow each slice of bread to soak in the milky custard mixture for at least 10 seconds on each side.
- Cook your french toast: We want each side golden, approximately 2 minutes per side.
- Make the custard: As the last piece of french toast is cooking, make you custard.
- Assemble: Lay a couple of slices of toast on the plate, spoon over a little rhubarb and pour over a little custard.
- Serve: Best consumed while hot.
Tips for the best French Toast with Rhubarb and Custard
The layout of ingredients: The order of the three components are set out in the order of how you make them, to achieve the pouring custard consistency best whilst freshly made otherwise it will thicken as it cools.
Soaking your bread: We want the bread to soak up the mixture, but not to soak too long (anything longer than 20 seconds per side) as the mixture won't go as far the bread will be too wet internally post cooking.
Solve for custard that is too thick: If your custard thickens too much while cooking, you can use a tablespoon or two of milk to thin it out once you have put this into your pouring dish.
If you have have large flat bowls to make your french toast: As per my image below, we don’t have any large flat bowls for our bread to fit into the french toast milk mixture so an easy sub was a small baking dish that made this easy.
Other brunch recipes you'll enjoy
Cilbir - Turkish Eggs in Yogurt
How to make French Toast with Rhubarb and Custard:
Place the sliced bread out in the open to dry out whilst you stew the rhubarb and set aside.
Place the rhubarb, water and sugar into a small saucepan on low heat and cover, cooking until the sugar has dissolved and the rhubarb begins to look soft on the edges.
Remove from the heat and set aside onto your serving plate.
Meanwhile, place the ground cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom, sugar and salt into your bowl that is big enough to fit the bread dipped inside also.
Whisk the sugar and spices together, add in the egg, egg yolk and milk and whisk until combined.
Meanwhile, place a large skillet or saucepan on low to medium heat and add in a teaspoon of butter.
Place a slice of the braided bread or brioche into the milk and custard mixture and allow to soak it up before flipping and allowing the dry side of the bread to soak up the custard.
Place into your hot skillet and cook until browned, approximately 2 minutes. Flip and repeat on the other side.
Place on your serving plate and continue with remaining slices of bread until all are cooked.
When the last piece of french toast is being cooked, place the milk, custard powder, sugar and vanilla extract into the same saucepan as the rhubarb was cooked.
Place on medium heat, whisking intermittently until the mixture begins to thicken, remove immediately from the heat.
Pour into your serving dish.
Place two or three slices of the french toast onto a serving plate, top with two tablespoons of rhubarb and drizzle over custard.
Spoon over a little of the rhubarb syrup and serve immediately.
French Toast with Rhubarb and Custard
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 20 minutes
- Yield: Serves 4
- Category: Breakfast
Description
This French Toast with Rhubarb and Custard recipe looks fancy, but comes together quickly for a filling brunch on a lazy day or to impress your loved ones.
Ingredients
Stewed rhubarb
150 grams / 5.3 ounces rhubarb, washed and sliced into 1 inch pieces
30 grams / 2 tablespoons water
28 grams / 2 tablespoons superfine/caster sugar
French toast
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
¼ teaspoon ground cardamom
28 grams / 2 tablespoons superfine/caster sugar
½ teaspoon sea or kosher salt
125 milliliters / ½ cup milk
1 egg, room temperature
1 egg yolk, room temperature
8 slices braided bread or brioche
Custard
125 milliliters / ½ cup milk
12 grams / 1 tablespoon custard powder
14 grams / 1 tablespoon superfine/caster sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
Stewed rhubarb
- Place the sliced bread out in the open to dry out whilst you stew the rhubarb and set aside.
- Place the rhubarb, water and sugar into a small saucepan on low heat and cover, cooking until the sugar has dissolved and the rhubarb begins to look soft on the edges.
- Remove from the heat and set aside onto your serving plate.
French toast
- Meanwhile, place the ground cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom, sugar and salt into your bowl that is big enough to fit the bread dipped inside also.
- Whisk the sugar and spices together, add in the egg, egg yolk and milk and whisk until combined.
- Meanwhile, place a large skillet or saucepan on low to medium heat and add in a teaspoon of butter.
- Place a slice of the braided bread or brioche into the milk and custard mixture and allow to soak it up before flipping and allowing the dry side of the bread to soak up the custard.
- Place into your hot skillet and cook until browned, approximately 2 minutes. Flip and repeat on the other side.
- Place on your serving plate and continue with remaining slices of bread until all are cooked.
Custard
- When the last piece of french toast is being cooked, place the milk, custard powder, sugar and vanilla extract into the same saucepan as the rhubarb was cooked.
- Place on medium heat, whisking intermittently until the mixture begins to thicken, remove immediately from the heat.
- Pour into your serving dish.
- Place two or three slices of the french toast onto a serving plate, top with two tablespoons of rhubarb and drizzle over custard.
- Spoon over a little of the rhubarb syrup and serve immediately.
Notes
The layout of ingredients: The order of the three components are set out in the order of how you make them, to achieve the pouring custard consistency best whilst freshly made otherwise it will thicken as it cools.
Soaking your bread: We want the bread to soak up the mixture, but not to soak too long (anything longer than 20 seconds per side) as the mixture won't go as far the bread will be too wet internally post cooking.
Solve for custard that is too thick: If your custard thickens too much while cooking, you can use a tablespoon or two of milk to thin it out once you have put this into your pouring dish.
If you have have large flat bowls to make your french toast: As per my image below, we don’t have any large flat bowls for our bread to fit into the french toast milk mixture so an easy sub was a small baking dish that made this easy.
Recipe by Roamingtaste
Nutrition
- Calories: 471 calories per serve
Keywords: custard, brunch, produce
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